The two Statistical Accounts of Scotland,
covering the 1790s and the 1830s, are among the best contemporary reports of
life during the agricultural and industrial revolutions in Europe. Learn more
about the area in which you or your ancestors have lived, or use this key source
to study the emergence of the modern British State and the economic and social
impact of the world's first industrial nation.

Up until now access to the
Statistical Accounts has not been easy—the 1978 reprint of the First
Statistical Accounts is in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City on fiche
and film but does not circulate to Family History Centers. The lucky ones among
us find them in nearby reference libraries.

In 1791, Sir John
Sinclair, a Caithness landlord with a particular interest in the Scottish
economy and agriculture, conceived the idea of surveying the status of every
parish is Scotland. He believed that "public policies and actions,
especially Parliamentary legislation intended to benefit the populace, needed to
be founded on something better than prejudice or mere hunch." (D.J.
Withrington and I.R. Grant, eds. The Statistical Accounts of Scotland, Volume 1,
1978," page xiv).

Sinclair designed a
questionnaire with 160 queries and then went to the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland seeking to harness the knowledge of local ministers. The
questionnaire not only probed issues economic, it asked questions about natural
features, antiquities, population, political, and moral matters. Some 500
ministers responded quite quickly and by 1794, 775 of 938 parishes had sent in
reports. Sinclair did not yet realize the trouble he would have cajoling reports
out of the remainder—those whom someone described as the incapable, the
indolent, and the busy. In the end he had replies from all but twelve, and to
these parishes he sent his "statistical missionaries."

The majority of ministers had
lived in their parishes for five years or more. They were knowledgeable, if
occasionally somewhat patronizing. Some went on at great length, carefully
addressing the issues raised in the questionnaire—most wrote a narrative
rather than specific answers. The facts are there, and though names are few, the
material is of interest to family historians. For example, at the united
parishes of Logie and Pert in the county of Forfar 30 persons died
in 12 months, 1787-88, from a malignant fever (the symptoms are described).
Forty years before, in the 1750s, one important business was the snuff factory,
which had processed over 40,000 pounds of snuff per year, but in the 1790s only
one person was employed and production was down to 5,000 pounds. If facts are
few in your parish of interest, and even if they are not, read also about those
adjacent.

In addition, at this Web site,
you can scrutinize what ministers had to say roughly 40 years later. Changing to
the report of the Second Statistical Account is only a click away. Comparing the
reports is very interesting and can offer clues about living conditions,
changing fortunes and why people came or went. The second account is one way to
find out about secession or dissenting congregations in a parish or nearby. Be
sure to read it.

Sir John Sinclair wanted
proceeds from his accounts to go to the benefit of children of Church of
Scotland ministers, so it not surprising that production of the second account
was supported by the Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the
Clergy.